Florida Brewers Push to End Ban on Beer Growlers

Silly laws like this? You can bet 99% of the time some big brewers has greased the palms of pols to pass it. And since finding a gallon jug with Grolsch top is almost impossible, breweries in FL are forced to do twist top, cider jug-like, growlers: that DON’T hold carbonation well. Hence people must drink them FASTER. This makes sense???-PGA

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There are three growlers perched above the tap handles at Intuition Ale Works. One of the beer jugs holds 32 ounces, another 64, and the largest 128. Two of them can be sold lawfully in Florida; the third has a handwritten sign saying “Legalize it” as it sits on display at the brewery. And it’s probably not the one you’d guess.

Customers can have as many of the largest containers, with a full gallon, or the smallest jugs, with a quart, filled as they please. It’s the half-gallon growler — a 64-ounce container that’s popular from coast to coast — that’s illegal, thanks to Florida’s history of odd bottle laws.

“It’s such a stupid law,” said Ben Davis, owner of Intuition Ale Works. “You can come in here and buy a gallon, you can buy a quart, you can buy two quarts, but I can’t sell you a half-gallon. And it’s the industry standard. You go to Colorado, you go to a brewery there and say ‘Hey, I want a growler of X beer,’ they don’t ask you, ‘Hey! Do you want it in a quart or do you want it in a gallon?'”